


but cairo never hated chess!

by elphiethropp



Category: We Are The Tigers - Allen
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, F/F, Grief, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28581276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elphiethropp/pseuds/elphiethropp
Summary: Cairo finds Chess' body.
Relationships: Chess/Cairo (We Are The Tigers)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	but cairo never hated chess!

**Author's Note:**

> i've only had this ship for a day but i already adore it! wrote this super quickly so it's very rough and unedited. could it be better? yes. but that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Cairo couldn't breathe. She couldn't speak, couldn't move. She was totally frozen, completely numb.

Because there, on Riley's lawn, was Chess.

Chess, their teammate. Who had been fine just an hour ago.

Chess, the girl Cairo was completely in love with, who she had been dating. Secretly dating, because of the Olympics and Chess' image and Cairo maintaining her Prom Queen status and Kate and Riley and so many other things that were completely unimportant right now.

Chess, who was unnaturally still and covered in blood and completely unresponsive to Kate's hysterical screaming and shaking.

Cairo shook her head, willing herself to say something. Anything. The words came out in a stuttering whisper, not unlike the one she'd been mocking Riley for not five minutes ago.

"Is- Is she _d-dead_?"

* * *

Half an hour later, she was kneeling beside the body, trying not to look at its face. _Her_ face, Chess' face. The girl she had loved, and the eyes that had made her heart melt, now glassy and empty. Smearing her blood, already starting to congeal, onto the knife Cairo had taken from Riley's kitchen. It felt like violating her in death. And this would be the last thing she ever did to her. _Forgive me,_ she silently begged.

She couldn't, even for a second, think about what she was doing, why she was doing it, or she would falter. This had been her idea, and she was going to stand by it. She had to protect herself, protect Riley, protect the team.

"I just wish I could have protected _you_." She whispered aloud, and now the tears began to fall. Maybe she could grieve, now that she was alone. Just for a moment. But then:

"Cairo?" Riley's voice called from inside the house, her panic evident. The moment was over. 

"I'm coming!" She yelled back, and then turned back to Chess. Trying to keep her hands from shaking, she closed Chess' eyes for her, smoothed her hair. As if any of that mattered anymore. And then, she pressed a kiss to her forehead, something she had never done while she was alive. She should have. There were so many things they should have done, so much more they could have been if they didn't care quite so much about reputations and rivalries. So many things she'd wanted to say but held her tongue, convinced they had all the time in the world. 

"I'm so sorry," she whispered now, stroking her girlfriend's face for the last time. And then, she took a deep breath, steadied herself, and went back inside, not allowing herself to look back.


End file.
